Game of Thrones April 2019 finale may be delayed for months

Ned Stark may have been wrong, winter might not be coming as soon as we previously thought.

Game of Thrones fans, you might want to hold on to your seats as season 8 of the long-awaited series may not be hitting screens until mid 2019.

Earlier this year, it was rumoured we’d see our next dose of Jon Snow by April 2019, but a rep from HBO told Huffpost an airdate for Game Of Thrones hasn’t actually beenannounced – gutted. So, it’s probably not best to hold your breath waiting for it.

Devastatingly, fans of the show have been without a new episode for almost a whole year.

HBO’s president of programming, Casey Bloys, said the show would be premiering in the first half of 2019.

This means the show will qualify for the Emmy Awards in ’19. A series must air between June 1, 2018, and May 31, 2019.

So if HBO wanted the final season of Game Of Thrones to be considered in the next Emmys, GOT would have to air before the end of May.

After a successful 22 nominations in the 2018 Emmys, it seems likely, at this point, this would be the way HBO would want to go.

Though our night’s watch for April may have ended, we can still get a bit excited that dates are narrowing down – even if just a little bit.

Unfortunately, in contradiction to this, in an interview with HuffPost, Game of Thronesvisual effects supervisor Joe Bauer discussed the show’s Emmy hopes as well as its future eligibility.

“In two years we’ll be eligible for the Season 8 work, which we’re just beginning now,” he said.

What? According to Bauer, the show will be eligible for the 2020 Emmys, not the 2019 Emmys, meaning it would be airing the most of its expected six episodes after the 2019 cutoff.

“We’re going to be toiling away on Season 8 until May of 2019, so it’s eight or nine months away,” he added. “But the prequel is starting to shoot in February, at least the pilot. So,we’ll still have quite a lot to do on Season 8 when they’re beginning.”

Bauer said he’s blocked off his schedule until next May for Game Of Thrones effects work.

He added: “So much of it comes down to timing and all that stuff. The situation changes every week. I know I’m not doing anything else but ‘Thrones’ until May of next year.”

In order to keep fans happy, for a while, HBO has released a short teaser – but the snippet is really one where if you blink you’ll miss it.